Marnie Palomares’s Interview

Marnie Palomares’s Interview

Balik Bayan will share different kinds of art, including dance, and luckily we met one of the dancers, Marnie Palomares.

Marnie has a sister, Melanie, and they will both perform during the exhibition. These two « Spanish-Filipino Australians work as dancers, choreographers and teachers in Sydney ».

They were invited to participate to this project, which made them very excited because for them, it was « the opportunity to connect with [their] culture and to dance, collaborate and engage with other Filipino artists ».

Marnie’s desire for dance was ignited by « Michael Jackson’s ‘Smooth Criminal’ videoclip », and ever since then, she never stopped dancing. However, it is not what she is going to present at Balik Bayan !

The Palomares sisters will introduce their work together since they « collaborated with composer & film-maker Timothy Constable on a dance film ». Marnie describes this work as a « piece [which] is about the idea of ‘home’ through many different perspectives ».
These perspectives start with « the body as home, from literally housing an unborn child to approaching the body as a landscape », going through the « upholding [of their] Spanish-Filipino traditions and rituals while growing up in Australia », without forgetting « the importance of family- gathering, protecting, nourishing, feasting and the dynamic relationships that exist within ».

Therefore, we can tell that Marnie is very committed to her culture through her work, which Balik Bayan will allow her to share. But it isn’t the first time she has the chance to be so involved in an important project. Indeed, “asa freelance contemporary dancer, [she] ha[s] had the pleasure to collaborate with numerous companies and independents », which let her « connect deeply with every project » since they all « involve[d] [her] creatively contributing [her] ideas and choreography ». Then, Marnie realized how each «unique process is rich and meaningful ».

So we hope that you’ll be there in September to attend Balik Bayan, and see the beautiful Palomares sisters’s work in real !